Knight_Flyer

Oldest kit in my stash. Can't help notice the word "NEW" on the box - could this mean it's a First Edition? If it is and worth a lot, can someone please reply before I build it and lose £10,000 in the process

If I may say, build the model how you like displayed. The Eurofighter Typhoon when parked have the canards in the "dropped" position. However I find it ruins the look of the plane and model it with the canards in the raised horizontal position. Similarly with the A-4 Skyhawk, when parked the slats are extended - I prefer the look of the plane with them retracted.

Guys, thanks for your help and input. Please don't spend a lot of effort looking for a photo of the airframe in question with nose kill mark. Chances are, there's not going to be one if assuming the comment is legit and I would think no photos would have been taken until the kill mark was painted on the intake plate. Personally, I'll still be of the opinion there's nothing to say the comment is legit however, I will acknowledge there isn't anything to say the comment isn't legit. Different story if the comment was taken from say a Combat Aircraft magazine interview with Phil Handley back in 2015 or even one of the many aviation reference books we all have in our possession. As for a modelling perspective, I would be looking to do a scheme that is more documented (that is kill mark on intake plate) rather than one that is more of a "grey" area 🐧

Thanks for finding that photo. It at least gives some possibility the comment maybe real. Without that photo, one would be of the understanding no USAF Vietnam era F-4s ever had a kill mark on anywhere but the intake plate.

Bit of a question about research on this one I think. Recently had a bit of a "discussion" with another aviation enthusiast about the early scheme of the above prior to the addition of a shark mouth. In the photo above, you can see the kill marking is on the intake plate. As far as I know, this is standard practice for Vietnam War F-4 MiG Killers. However he maintains the comment posted by Phil "Hands" Handley on the website below is good enough to take seriously - in saying the kill marking should be on the nose. https://www.eztoys.com/usaf-f-4e-phantom-ii-67-0210-supersonic-gun-kill-air-commander-ac1005-scale-1-72.html Now, when I do research, of course there are aviation websites I know can be trusted to a certain degree. However, the link he posted goes to a toy retailer website. The comment looks "legit" but at the same time can't help feeling one should be cautious. Anyone could claim to be Major Phil Handley and post a comment with false information. What do you chaps think? If you were doing research for a model build of the above on the day of the MiG kill, would you trust the comment and place the kill mark on the nose instead of the intake plate? ...or would you try to find better evidence from other sources to support the comment? I have looked for other evidence and can find none. What is available, has the kill marking on the intake plate. Unless someone out there has photos of other USAF F-4 Phantoms with a kill mark on the nose... that at least would give some possibility of "truth" to the comment... or even you know of an article that's an interview with Major Handley talking about the kill marking on the nose or indeed his ground crew.

Thanks again for your replies. It sure is turning into an intriguing area of research 🤔 Found some more photos that appear to show "yellow", although it is a good point about colorization. I have found other photos showing OD, only thing is... the engine cowlings are nmf and not painted. Maybe from a different timeframe to the supposedly "yellow" anti glare?

Thanks guys, just wanted to double check I wasn't missing anything. I have come across archive film of the B-17 and in one shot looked to me faded OD. Other shots had a bit of yellow tint to it. As for the photos, some look enhanced or been reproduced too many times and colours appear to have been "corrected".

Ok, this is bothering me somewhat. Does anyone know what is the actual colour of the B-17 Bit o Lace nose anti glare panel? Someone pointed out it looked like a pale colour and I've also noticed some model builds have it yellow. This I assume comes from photos of the plane showing a pale colour. I've always thought they be painted a dark colour such as olive drab. Would have thought a pale colour do the the opposite of anti glare... throw a lot of glare into the pilots eyes defeating the purpose of painting it in the first place. Here you can see in front of the cockpit windows - a pale looking panel?

I've not heard of SEA 1 and SEA 2 either... also agree it is risky using restored aircraft that is museum or air show birds as references for colour matching. Those planes aren't always painted to being historically correct. The people looking after them are probably more concerned with preserving the history behind the plane and the schemes painted are just representative of the period... not necessarily accurate.

No, I've managed to sand and file the parts so the fit looks acceptable... took me a fair amount of work. The top of the engines are suppose to be level with the surface of the wing. Without any alteration, the engine will sit below the wing with a noticeable step up. It's the sort of thing I expect from a short run East European kit not a brand such as Airfix.

Good choice, the Stuka is a nice kit and be my recommendation too. The 262 may have been the first, unfortunately those poor fit engines is probably a hassle you could do without... unless you want the challenge of seeing if you can complete it before throwing it against the wall

I think the undercart assembly is the main concern for me. It reminds me of the Airfix 262 engines and I found that fiddly to get right. I don't mind doing some work as long as it's not fiddly in the sense of tedious, annoying and requiring a lot of time and effort to get right... otherwise I may as well only buy short run East European model kits Thanks for doing the list, it's useful to know 🙂

From what I've seen, the Hobby2000 F-111 kit are reissues of the Hasegawa with cartograf decals and canopy masks. Only thing that puts me off is the price - around £50 although I did see one advertised for £42... then again - are old Hasegawa kits going for around that price these days on ebay? It was a few years since I last bought one and won it for around £20. From a modelling aesthetic view, I prefer to build F-111 models with wings swept forward... just think it looks better in that position 🙂

From reading the comments it seems to me there is no "accurate" Spitfire Ia as such. Not too different from the conclusion about the Hasegawa Wildcat vs the Airfix Wildcat... neither is perfect and each have their own pro's and con's - really down to the modeller to decide which kit they like the look of more 😀 As for the vintage Airfix Spitfire Ia derived from the Vb... is this the one? Please ignore the Spit in the foreground as that is the new tooling. I did encounter a few fit issues particularly with the lower wing section joining the fuselage. Otherwise I found it reasonably ok to build.

Neat looking build. I have the Mi-24P somewhere... will get round to building it someday... as soon as I get round the parts count

Very nice result. Although I'm more impressed with the price - £8.99... don't see many kits for that amount of money

Great looking build. I like how you managed to enhance the raised panel lines instead of sanding and rescribing them.

Thanks guys, that makes it more clearer on what the others were saying. Think I will err on the safe side with the acrylics... so if paint does flake off... I just start all over again with a different technique

Not in the RFI section. If you look at the rules pinned to this section it says: "The critiquing/advice is meant for the skill set of the builder, not the accuracy of the build and is meant to encourage development of those skill sets and the sharing of ideas." There are other more relevant forum sections for discussing the accuracy of a kit. In fact there's already a thread about the Airfix MiG-15 here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/58911-the-new-airfix-mig-15-so-whats-wrong-with-it/

It's seeing comments like that what makes me nervous 🐧 Maybe I should leave the tracks alone or assemble the wheels as working... could have a few hours of fun rolling tank around on living room carpet

So I have a Tamiya tank first tooled in 1975 and the tank tracks being made of a strange feeling material... went on a bit of a search for more information about how to paint... and immediately got scared when the first expert said be careful what you do, use the wrong paint and you will melt the tracks. Really, is it that dangerous to even attempt any painting? After wading through what seems like an entire encyclopaedia of various comments and advice... I'm still confused 😕 So, making an attempt to make a simple answer of the information overload... can anyone say have I got the following right? I can use Tamiya acrylic paint for the tracks and best start with a dark metallic colour. Equally suitable is Vallejo acrylic paint. Neither of those paints should affect the vinyl. There was also mention of being able to use a Vallejo wash on top of the paint. Puzzling thing is, apparently the vinyl tracks on later Tamiya toolings can be painted with any kind of paint. Wonder why Tamiya didn't use the same material on re-issues of old toolings. Would have saved me a bit of confusion and concern

Just experienced my first 500 error... do I win a prize? 😀

I reckon you've done an excellent job. The tooling itself is ancient dating back to the 70s or may even be the 60s? No surprises it's not an easy build. Thing about the kit though, it does on UK ebay auction go for imo crazy prices. Mainly heading towards £20 or $27 USD. Throw in another £5 and you can have a new tool big model Airfix Buccaneer

Very nice build. I like how you've done the panel lines. Done one of my scooters with black lines and it looked horrible, should have done it in a similar colour to yours. Looks far more realistic. The tooling is indeed a new one. One of the later boxings as well. Annoying for me as I was after VA-15 decals and Airfix didn't have this one released. Ended up sourcing aftermarket decals. Oh well 👨‍🌾

Very neat paint job you've done there. I've built the kit before and not easy to get a good result... more down to the age of the tooling.